Currently not on view
Auti te pape (Women by the River),
1893–94, printed 1921
Paul Gauguin, 1848–1903; born Paris, France; died Atuona, Marquesas Islands
Printed by Pola Gauguin, French, 1883–1961
Printed at Cabinet des Estampes, Bibliothèque Nationale de France
Printed by Pola Gauguin, French, 1883–1961
Printed at Cabinet des Estampes, Bibliothèque Nationale de France
x1946-235
When Gauguin returned from his first voyage to Tahiti (1891–93), the bold exoticism and Tahitian titles of the paintings he brought back shocked Parisian audiences. In an attempt to explain his stylistic transformation, the artist began to write Noa Noa (Fragrant Scent), a highly fictionalized account of his Polynesian experience. Gauguin also produced ten woodcuts, in what he imagined to be a native Oceanic style, as illustrations to his text. While Noa Noa was never published with his illustrations as intended, the woodcuts proved to be influential in modernist printmaking circles. In 1921 the artist’s son, Pola, printed a posthumous edition of the surviving Noa Noa woodblocks, including this image of bathers.
Information
Title
Auti te pape (Women by the River)
Dates
1893–94, printed 1921
Maker
Medium
Woodcut printed in black and light gray ink on light gray Japanese paper
Dimensions
block: 20.5 × 35.5 cm (8 1/16 × 14 in.)
sheet: 27.2 x 43.1 cm. (10 11/16 x 16 15/16 in.)
Credit Line
Laura P. Hall Memorial Collection
Object Number
x1946-235
Place Made
Europe, Denmark, Copenhagen
Inscription
Numbered graphite above block, upper left: No. 31
Inscribed and titled in block, lower left and right corner: PGO / AUTI TE PAPE
Inscribed and signed in graphite below block, lower left and right corners: Paul Gauguin fect / Pola Gauguin imp.
Reference Numbers
Guérin 96; Mongan and Kornfeld 16
Materials
Techniques
Subject
